


Into the Unknown

by Fericita



Series: When All Is Lost [45]
Category: Frozen (Disney Movies), Frozen 2 - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:01:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22542943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fericita/pseuds/Fericita
Summary: Agnarr and Iduna enlist the help of a trusted friend to help them track down the source and meaning of Elsa’s magic.Thanks to The Spastic Fantastic for beating this story into shape!
Relationships: Agnarr & Iduna (Disney), Agnarr/Iduna (Disney)
Series: When All Is Lost [45]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1571230
Comments: 23
Kudos: 28





	Into the Unknown

Thea and Elias welcomed Agnarr into their home. Thea, caught off-guard by the unexpected visit and a bit flustered by the late hour, brought their daughter and son in to bow and curtsey before taking them up to bed and retiring to her drawing room. Elias began to pour them drinks and Agnarr closed the doors on either end of the room before settling in his chair. He accepted the glass with a word of thanks before Elias sat down to join him.

“What is this about Agnarr? I was surprised when the courier came to say you would be coming by tonight. What couldn’t wait until the council meeting tomorrow?” Elias looked at Agnarr while he spoke, and noted his somber expression, the defeated curve of his shoulders. This was the king at the end of a trying day, of which there had been many lately.

Elias had become used to this version of Agnarr. Preoccupied with the lives of his daughters under constant threat, as he had been for the past four years. Since the attempt on Elsa’s life had ended in Anna’s injury, Agnarr had not let the girls leave the castle, and few people had gone in. Council meetings now happened on properties owned by the crown in the town, and most official events were off castle grounds as well.

It was one of the reasons Elias had stayed on the council as Minster of Trade after his father’s retirement. No one could make Agnarr laugh these days but Elias could at least make him smile. And even though Elias desperately wanted to explore new trade routes and see the lands his father talked about, he was more desperate to help his friend through this long crisis.

Agnarr ran his hand over his eyes and took a breath. “This is about something that cannot be spoken of in the council meeting. At least not in its entirety.”

Elias raised an eyebrow and swirled the contents of his glass slowly. “Well you’ve piqued my interest. Are we removing someone from office? Defying Minister Wollen by proceeding with Weselton negotiations? Oh no, do you need me to get Henrik out of some trouble? Did he finally cause an international incident?”

“No, it’s…” Agnarr set the glass down and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees on hand on his forehead. “It’s about Elsa.”

Elias sat up in his chair. “Elsa? Have you found those who wish her harm? Have they made a new threat?”

Agnarr shook his head and breathed deeply. “She is still in great danger.” He licked his lips. “Elias, this is difficult to tell you. Only Iduna and a handful of servants who have seen what we could not hide know what I am about to tell you.” He paused and winced. “And the trolls.”

“The . . .Trolls? Agnarr, are you alright?” Elias smelled his glass, making sure he hadn’t given Agnarr something too strong. Trolls were a nighttime story meant to keep children from climbing out of bed in the dark. It wasn’t something a king believed to be real. It wasn’t like Agnarr to state fantasy as fact.

“Yes, trolls.” He sighed. “I told you it would be difficult. This is . . .going to be difficult to believe. And it’s going to be difficult to say.”

“You can trust me, Agnarr. I’ll remain silent. Just speak.” Elias leaned back into the chair, and tried to keep his incredulous reaction off of his face. He nodded to Agnarr, encouraging him to begin.

“Elsa was born with the gift of ice magic. She can make ice and snow and form shapes out of it.” He reached inside of his coat and pulled out a small coin, and handed it to Elias.

Elias took it and saw that it wasn’t a coin. It was a piece of ice, intricately carved to take on the appearance of a coin; Agnarr’s profile, perfectly shaped in relief on the surface. There were even grooves along the side. It was exquisite. Elias held it up. “What are you saying? She carved this? From ice?”

Agnarr shook his head and Elias could see the frustration in his movements, could hear his sigh of irritation. He tried again to be silent, to let Agnarr explain this bizarre story.

“Elias, she made that. When she was eight. It was before the accident with Anna. Now she won’t make any ice on purpose.”

Elias turned it over, and noticed that it hadn’t left a trail of water on his hand. Nor had it lost its shape in Agnarr’s pocket on the way over. Or in the four years since she made it if what Agnarr was saying was true. It was difficult to keep the surprise out of his face, but he stayed silent, hoping Agnarr would continue to explain.

“She used to make figures from ice and snow. She could also make snowfall - great drifts of it. Enough to fill the ballroom. Only, now she can’t control it. She hurt Anna, once, and we went to the trolls for healing. They saved her. They healed Anna. But they showed us the future and that Elsa would be killed for her magic unless she can control it. That’s the night we closed the gates.” Agnarr took a sip of his drink, and looked at Elias, and Elias could see the grief on his face. “So, it wasn’t a lie we told you. Not really. Their lives are both in danger. And we don’t know who from. But it’s because of this power she has.”

Elias reached to Agnarr, handing him back the ice coin and then clasping his hand. There was a time he would have felt hurt to know Agnarr kept such a great secret from him. But seeing the anguish and knowing how much it had weighed on him, Elias only felt compassion for his friend. “I understand. Or, I don’t completely, but I want to. And I understand why you would keep this a secret. I know you’d do anything for your children, any father would.”

Agnarr kept his hand in Elias’ and his voice became thick with emotion. “We’ve been trying to help her control it, but nothing works. Not gloves, not prayer, not isolation, not ignoring it. She’s grown stronger in her powers and less sure of herself.”

Elias remained silent, his body completely still as he waited for Agnarr to continue.

“There is a place Iduna knows about. It’s something her people told stories of when she was a girl. I…” He looked up. “I think we both need to finish our drinks before I tell you more.”

***

Elias was silent for a long moment. Then he drained his third drink. “Does Iduna know you’re telling me all of this?”

Agnarr took a long drink as well and then wiped hands over his eyes. “Yes. She suggested I talk to you. Entrust you with the truth of the matter. We’ve been trying to find Ahtohallan for some time, but we haven’t given any information on what it is or why we know about it to the agents we’ve sent out. Perhaps, unsurprisingly, our search has yielded nothing.”

“No, I mean she knows you’re telling me that she’s Northuldra?” Elias stood up, lifted the bottle from the table and poured them both more drinks.

“Yes,” he nodded, still wiping at his eyes. “She was very worried about it hurting you, since you lost your cousin in the battle. And Elias, she had every reason to lie and to be scared. Did you know she found the body of a murdered Nothuldra man near Eir’s? She was only fourteen. She buried it herself.”

Elias whispered a curse at that and took another sip, reconsidered, and downed the whole glass. “When shall I begin?”

***

Iduna walked carefully onto the ship, bringing her baskets of medicines and tonics, jars of lingonberry jam and stalks of boska. She knocked at the door to the captain’s quarters and Elias beckoned her inside.

“Better close the door. Some of the men think it’s bad luck to have a woman aboard.”

“Even while you’re firmly docked in the harbor? I just came to bring some supplies.” Iduna walked closer but Elias said nothing, intently studying the map on his desk.

The ship rolled slightly, bumping against the dock, and she stumbled a bit. Her heart thudded and the muscles in her arms and legs felt tight, like she might need to run and hide. “My best tonics for seasickness, preventatives for scurvy, some boska to chew for strong health, and a few others you might need for whatever comes up.”

Elias looked up from the map, rose, took the offerings and placed them on his desk. “Thank you. I’ll see that they’re used properly.”

He still wasn’t looking at her. And she knew why. She kept her voice quiet, knowing sound could easily travel even through the thick wooden beams of a ship. “I’m sorry Elias. For lying to you. For so long. About who I am. I know your family was hurt, maybe even by mine. And I’m sorry.”

He finally looked up, and she saw the tight line of his mouth, his fists on the table. “I’m not upset you’re Northuldra. I’m disappointed you didn’t trust me enough to tell me. Iddy, we’ve been close for so long. I thought I’d shown you I could be trusted.”

“I do, Elias. I do trust you. That’s why we asked you to do this for us, for Arendelle. There is no one we trust more.” She put a hand over his fist, squeezing it. “I was scared. A scared girl, and I kept acting like one long after I was fourteen. Can you forgive me?”

Elias was silent for a long moment, and she wondered what he was thinking. Just when she thought she could bear his silence no longer, he gave her a faint smile. “There’s nothing to forgive, Iddy.” He unclenched his fists, and cradled her hand in his hands, bowing his head. “I’m just sorry that you had to go through all that alone. And that you, Agnarr, and the girls have had to go through all of this alone.”

She sighed, relieved, and felt her shoulders relax. “May you have an easy journey.”

Elias smiled at her, and it felt like they were fourteen again, about to sail out to the skerries, baskets for berries and buckets for shells in their rowboat. “And may I find what you need to save your daughter.”

***

The first year Elias took his ship and a small crew up the Otra River. The council was told it was to scout for a new trade route, but he was following a lead about water acting in strange ways at its head in the Setesdalsheiene mountains. He hoped it could be the head of the Ahtohollan river of memory. It yielded nothing. Instead of a river of memory, he brought his goddaughter books on sailing and maps of the world.

In the second year of the search, Elias and Askel took a few guardsmen to the stones and walked the length of the mist. It took several months and Iduna was half terrified and half hopeful that the mist would open. The thought of seeing her family again was always tempered by the sobering reality that Arendellian soldiers could again lose their lives in her homeland. But, as it always had been since the day of the battle, the mist remained impenetrable. Ahthollan could not be reached by land.

In the third and four years of the search, Elias visited Corona and the surrounding lands for a witch said to be in possession of a magical flower that grew from a drop of sun. It had the power to heal, if the stories were to be believed, and had saved a queen. But eventually he found that the flower and the witch had vanished, and his search was again fruitless. He brought Elsa and Anna flowers from Corona, but they weren’t magical, and the petals were already curling in death by the time they made it home.

***

They had been so sure they were looking in the right place. Years of dead ends, each one more fraught than the last, as Elsa grew older and gossip spread throughout the borders of Arendelle and beyond about her absence from public life. Anna grew lonelier and lonelier.

Then while on a trip to Russia, Dure had traded some royal jewels for a map with Ahtohallan labeled on it as though it was as common as the Southern Isles or England. When he brought it to the castle and Iduna took it to the library to study, she realized how singular it was. She went about thanking him with a feast in the kitchens and a sack of gold.

Agnarr joined her shortly afterward, having been to a tradesmen’s meeting by the pier where she had sent the runner for him. “What have you found?”

Iduna looked up and her face was white. “I think we’ve been looking on the wrong side of the sea. I think,” she took a shuddering breath. ”Agnarr, I think this is it. I think this shows the way to get there.”

Agnarr sat down next to her, grabbing her hand and asking in a tightly controlled voice, “And we will find the past there? Do you think understanding the past can save Elsa’s future?”

“No,” Iduna shook her head. Her color was returning and she was already formulating a plan. “But I think understanding what she’s a part of can. And this is where we learn that.”

She leaned into him, and as his hands came around her, her sigh of relief was matched by his own.

“I’ll go get Elias.”

***

He had been thrilled to go. After so many years of searching and finding nothing, he had put his hand on Agnarr’s shoulder and said “On my honor, I will find Ahtohallan for Elsa.”

Thea had seen him off at the docks, their two children with her. “Wave to your Father! Off to look for a new trade route to the Black Mountain!” Iduna packed boska and lingonberry jam and she and Agnarr stood beside Thea and the children as they said goodbye, Thea pleased and proud that the king and queen would grace the advent of the journey with their presence and blessing.

To cross the Dark Sea, Elias needed a bigger crew than the ones he had used in previous expeditions, so twenty sailors boarded with him.

They never returned.

***

Iduna sat in the chapel, her right hand in Agnarr’s left, gripping it tightly to the point of pain and focusing on the throbbing instead of her grief. She was unable to look at Thea who was unable to stop sobbing. Or stop her children from sobbing. She was just now visibly pregnant with her third child who would never know its father. A father who had sailed before he knew he and his wife were even expecting.

And it was her fault.

She had urged Agnarr to enlist the help of trusted friends. No one was more trustworthy than Elias; no one more eager to help.

And now he was gone. Swallowed by the waves and water. His ship lost with all twenty sailors aboard. They had hoped Elias was merely delayed, that he had found something that required further attention before sailing back to Arendelle with the mystery of Elsa’s powers uncovered.

But as two weeks turned into two months and then to three, Agnarr proclaimed the ship lost and commended their souls to the water. He felt like he was a fourteen-year-old all over again, presiding over a country in mourning for those lost on an expedition.

It was a task that had not become easier with age. At least those families knew what their loved ones had been doing. These families only knew that a new trade route was being explored for the good of the kingdom. Small comfort to grieving men and women and children. And the sheer number of funerals, especially one for a citizen as well-known and prominent as Elias – it seemed everyone was grieving in one way or another.

It had been an endless week of funerals, several each day, and Iduna had a harder time breathing at each one, a harder time not confessing to the distraught families that she was to blame, she was the cause.

As the priest intoned a passage from the Bible, Iduna felt an ugly heat climb up her neck and into her cheeks, a weight pressing against her chest.

“Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof…before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.

She would be judged for this. Twenty-one deaths on her account. The guilt over Elias was like an open wound.

As they left, a feeble Captain Calder hugged Iduna tightly and shook Agnarr’s hand and told her how glad he was for their friendship to his son. Thea thanked them for coming and told them how proud Elias was to sail for them and for Arendelle. “I hope the trade route becomes a success. His legacy will live on as our nation prospers.” She covered her mouth with her hands and Iduna and Agnarr clutched each other, silent.

***

That night in their room, Agnarr wept in great heaving sobs. He had maintained an air of solemn stoicism throughout his boyhood friend’s funeral. Had kept his composure even as Henrik, Greet, Maddie and the others had broken down. But there was no audience in their bed chamber. And he fell apart like Anna had when she realized that her separation from Elsa would not end soon.

Iduna held him like she had held Anna then, stroking his head in her lap, running her hand up his arm and whispering soothing words. “He loved you. We’ll take care of his family. They’ll want for nothing. He wanted to do this for us.” But he wouldn’t accept her comfort.

“My mother, my father, Mattias, Elias, all of those sailors…the list grows longer of those who have died for me.”

Iduna’s tears began then and she covered her face with her hands. “Elias and the others, they would be safe if not for this magic I have brought. You say I’m not a curse, but surely this is.”

Agnarr sat up put his hands on hers, his forehead against hers. “I love you. You love me. That has to be enough right now. We can keep going on, knowing that. We can survive this.”

In the following weeks they continued to take turns comforting and being comforted. Iduna was thankful that Elsa did not know the reason for Elias’s trip, but she knew her parents were grieving the loss of her godfather. She gave her mother a pair of gloves that seemed to permanently feel cold, telling her to put them against her forehead when she needed to ease the tightness brought on by tears.

Anna picked them both flowers, leaving them on their pillows and on their dinner plates, scrawling notes in handwriting that remained messy even though she was fourteen and had a penmanship tutor.

Iduna had so hoped that at fourteen her youngest daughter would have a happy and whole family, something Iduna forever lost at the same age. It was an icy stab to her heart when she saw Anna knock on Elsa’s door, and heard Elsa’s “Go away, Anna.”

Even worse was when Anna walked by the door and didn’t even bother to knock.

Iduna couldn’t give up. But she couldn’t ask anyone else to go in their stead. The next time, she decided, she would go. Alone.


End file.
